Kelsie and I have become known for helping small businesses shore up their social media. We give the best guidance possible and continue to help them analyze their numbers and posts so they can make the most efficient posts in the future.
We will certainly hear of businesses (we already are) that will tell stories about how they got started on social media. They created a page and shared who they are and what they do. They found some traction, and their business started by using that free leverage.
That’s a good thing.
What a great tool for small businesses: a gift.
But there are limitations to social media that have always bothered us.
The reality is that you are at the mercy of the platform. And you always will be.
It started in late April; we began to notice reach numbers on Facebook plummeted across all of our clients. We could find no clear reason for the loss, but it was very real. We aren’t talking 10% to 20%. Nope, there was an average loss of around 60% across the board.
The good news is that a few weeks later, all of our clients began to gain back that valuable reach. But there was a pinch that was felt. You can imagine, if your business was reaching around 50,000 people a week through Facebook and all of the sudden it dropped to 20,000… you would be left scrambling.
At any moment, Facebook and other platforms can flip the switch and force small business owners into the world of being unknown.
The platforms, at any point in time, can scream at businesses, “PAY FOR YOUR REACH!”
The other limitation that bothers us is the fact that we can’t see any data around frequency of reach.
We have no way of knowing how many times a single person has been reached. Did a person see our posts twice this week… three times? We don’t know. When these numbers are not given, you will have a hard time knowing how your efforts will sway the consumer.
We love Social Media because the average person can do it. They can create a page, share it with their friends, join groups, tell their story, and begin to connect with the community. And yes, doing those things are technically free. When you have more time than money, it is a great option.
But the worst thing you can do for your business as it grows is to keep feeding the social media machine believing you can continue to scale it. And worse, trust it to help you get big. The hardest thing for Kelsie and I to witness is for business owners to exhaust themselves with social media when in reality, they are at a point where it is time to move on. Social media has limits.
Please don’t pay for reach on Facebook. It’s too expensive. And is not easily measured.
Get your business running as efficiently as possible. Save up some cash to ride the chickening-out-period. Be ready to take the leap and tell your story. And direct your marketing budget to the masses.
Mass-media CAN tell you what your reach will be, as well as your frequency. And we have the world’s best formulas, media buyers, and copy creators necessary to help you navigate that ocean.
Is it time for you to grow big?
Talk soon,
Aaron & Kelsie
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